ip team, which includes steve hadley, former national security adviser and a member of professor jeremy rap can and ms. judy ansley, who are also members of our board. dr. kristin lord is with us. she is our executive vice president. in addition, i would like to recognize a couple of special state department guests. ambassador beth jones, who is the assistance of terri state for near -- assistant secretary for near east affairs. if you would come forward, i would like to recognize bill taylor, ambassador bill taylor, who is our vice president for the middle east and africa and leads our efforts in support of iraq's success. also, a great asset to the institute, to the united states, into the world. she has done a terrific amount of work where iraq is concerned. she is public the book. a book.shed she is a very important part of the institute and has been leading for years our efforts where iraq is concerned. she is going to describe a little bit about the work of the institute in iraq. >> thank you for such a warm welcome. i would like to welcome prime minister al-maliki. we have shared